The victory leaves North London Raiders as the only challengers for the title. They kept their slim hopes alive with a 4-0 win over Hendon Harriers, courtesy of Lee Levenson, Dean Schulberg, Jon Yantin and Ashley Davidson.

Richard Goodman, 17, converted meticulous preparation into perfect execution in winning the Under 20 South of England cross country championship in cold and muddy conditions at Parliament Hill in north west London.

Pushing hard from the start, he broke away after 1km and had extended his lead to 100m by the end of the 8km race.

Shahar Peer has moved up to a career high ranking of 11 after reaching the third round of the Australian Open.

Peer, 23, would have entered the top 10 but for Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, previously ranked 14, who climbed above her after reaching the quarter-finals in Melbourne.

The pair will meet at the Federation Cup in Eilat later this week. The Polish delegation sent Agnieszka to the tournament following the withdrawal of her sister, Urszula (201), who withdrew through injury.

Westdene have been fined by the Lancashire FA following a scuffle after a match with Sporting JLGB.

Westdene won a bad-tempered contest which boiled over after the final whistle when Brad Levy was set upon by some Sporting players. Paul Levy, his father, then ran on to the pitch to break up the fight.

Referee Tim Myerson's report criticised Westdene boss Paul Levy and the club was charged "for failure to control a Westdene member or fan". Steve Davis defended Westdene alongside Levy at the hearing and they took Sporting's Rafi Bloom to speak in their defence.

Playing alongside Israel captain Yossi Benayoun is one of the things that attracted Fernando Torres to Chelsea, breaking the British transfer record with a £50 million move from Liverpool in the process.

Torres followed in the footsteps of Benayoun who moved from Anfield to Stamford Bridge last summer.

"The opportunity to link up with him again excites me," Torres said. "Hopefully, he will recover from injury fully as soon as possible.

"He is my friend on and off the pitch. I know that all the players at Liverpool miss him. He's a great lad."

Eight will become four on Sunday morning as the quarter-finals of the JC Cyril Anekstein Cup takes place. There is also a mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash in Division Four. Danny Caro looks ahead to all the action.

Goals from Kyle Bentwood, Daran Bern and captain Alex Levack earned the Maccabi League Rep Team a 3-0 victory over the North London League as they started the London Inter-League Cup competition in style at the Abrahams Stadium at a foggy Wingate & Finchley.

The Maccabi team went into the game on the back of an eventful 2010 campaign, where they won last season’s Inter-League final, only to lose out after fielding ineligible players. It was clear that the team were out to prove a point with Levack and Babai, two players who also played last season, catching the eye once more.

North London Raiders C are toasting a win double after defender Matt Greene and Oli Shorts scooped my respective JC MSFL Player and Manager of the Month awards for January.

Greene received praise from Shorts for “coming into the team and effortlessly slotting into the holding midfield role. He has also covered in defence on a few occasions and popped up with some vital goals and some assists to boot”.

Shorts added: “Matt has become the Alex Song of Raiders C and in my opinion that is the highest praise I can give to anyone playing where he does”.